Chapter 808: Chapter 807: Encounter with Fire Stiff Again_1
The thick layer of dust on the stone table couldn’t touch the three medium-grade spiritual weapons, whose radiating aura was so tempting that it could make any Earth Immortal of the Divine Border Realm drool.
Without hesitation, Shi Xiaole picked up the tiger-head broken sword first.
As expected, the sword wasn’t heavy. After all, swords are considered nimble and light, and while heavy swords do exist, they are in the minority.
The moment the tiger-head hilt touched his palm, Shi Xiaole felt as if he heard a roar; the red gem in the tiger’s mouth suddenly screamed, and a ring of smoke-like white vapor formed on the surface of the bluish sword body, resembling a slumbering fierce tiger.
Huang Tao, standing behind, felt his heart pound, bit his teeth hard, and clenched his fists to restrain the impulse to rush forward and compete for the weapon.
This was actually a top-notch medium-grade spirit sword.
One must know, even among medium-grade spirit swords, there are levels of quality. Only the finest medium-grade spirit swords could manifest a unique presence.
The tiger-head broken sword, with the spirit of a tiger, if not a top-notch medium-grade spirit sword, what else could it be? Such a sword could enhance his strength by fifteen percent, damn it!
"What a good sword."
Shi Xiaole revealed a faint smile and turned his eyes to the junction of the hilt and the blade, where he found two tiny characters—Tiger Abyss.
With a casual wave of his hand, the Tiger Abyss sword immediately issued a tiger’s roar. The stark white Sword Qi, like ultimate lightning, drew an inch-deep mark on the opposite stone wall’s array light screen, which took a full three breaths to dissipate.
"The quality of the Tiger Abyss sword is on par with the Spring Fury Sword, only it lacks the lower half, inevitably reducing its power, but it’s still strong enough."
Thinking this way, Shi Xiaole picked up the sword hilt from the stone table and inserted the Tiger Abyss sword back into its sheath, strapping it to his waist.
He then reached for the umbrella, flickering with a silvery metallic luster.
The umbrella didn’t look big, but it was over a hundred times heavier than the Tiger Abyss sword. Made from an unknown material, strands of soft yet strong aura ebbed and flowed on the surface of the umbrella, becoming sharp and fierce at the tip.
With his back to the others, Shi Xiaole lightly drew his sword finger across the surface of the umbrella, and surprisingly, it remained undamaged, while his hand felt both pain and numbness as if bones had shattered and tendons were torn.
That finger had contained eighty percent of Shi Xiaole’s power, enough to effortlessly kill a top seventh-tier Earth Immortal, but it nearly backfired on him. The defensive strength was several times stronger than the medium-grade Spirit Armor he wore, another top-notch medium-grade spiritual weapon!
"With this umbrella, I can resist the firepower of a peak Earth Immortal."
Shi Xiaole’s smile deepened.
With his current power, operating a medium-grade Spirit Armor, eighth-tier Earth Immortals could not break his defense, but ninth-tier Earth Immortals were a different story. With the silver umbrella, it was different.
As long as he used it wisely, most peak Earth Immortals wouldn’t be able to touch him.
In front of the others, Shi Xiaole couldn’t put the silver umbrella into his system space, so he simply held it while turning towards the spear on the far right.
People behind had flickering gazes.
After a prolonged silence, Shi Xiaole turned around with a smile and said, "I don’t want this thing anymore, you can have it."
Though the spear was valuable, to Shi Xiaole, it was as irrelevant as chicken ribs. Moreover, although he had just defeated Young Master Evil, if it hadn’t been for the restraint from Su Yichen and the others, the one walking away would have been him.
One should not be too greedy. At least for Shi Xiaole, he wanted to abide by the principles in his heart, and never to cross that line just because his strength increased.
Upon hearing Shi Xiaole’s words and seeing him step aside voluntarily, Huang Tao and others couldn’t believe their ears and even wondered if they had heard wrong.
Putting themselves in his shoes, it would be very difficult for them to refuse the temptation of a medium-grade spiritual weapon, even if it wasn’t their weapon of choice. At the very least, they could trade it with others.
"Since Young Hero Shi is so generous and righteous, I won’t stand on ceremony, and what about you two?"
Suppressing his astonishment, Huang Tao looked at Su Yichen and Bai Ruiting.
With sparkling eyes, Bai Ruiting diverted her gaze from Shi Xiaole and smiled, "Give it to you two, I don’t want it."
Huang Tao silently breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to Su Yichen.
Among those present, only these two could put pressure on him and were his biggest competitors. As for Shi Xiaole, he wasn’t even in the same league, not worth comparing.
"I’ve been wanting to exchange some moves with Senior Huang for a while now, I hope Senior Huang can take it easy."
Su Yichen said with a smiling face.
Huang Tao’s eyes flashed and he said coldly, "I also hope Young Hero Su will show mercy."
The two quickly engaged in a fierce battle.
Huang Tao’s swordsmanship was not known for its sharpness but for its solidity. Once his Endless Yellow Sand Sword Technique was unleashed, a stormy sandstorm filled the air, often weakening Su Yichen’s attacks by more than seventy percent before they reached him.
But Su Yichen was no pushover; he maneuvered through the sandstorm, avoiding the incessant Sword Qi. Knowing that brute force was ineffective, he adopted hit-and-run tactics to wear down his opponent.
After a ferocious battle of more than eight hundred exchanges and successive secret techniques, it was even more dangerous than the battle with Young Master Evil and his group.
"Endless Yellow Sand!"
"Cold Moonlight Shadow!"
Countless swirling sand grains formed a circular, thick wall aiming for Su Yichen at the center.
Su Yichen’s face tensed as his body turned into a pale streak of light, and the sand particles shot out from the thick wall seemed to pass through him as if they were insubstantial.
Bang!
The thick wall exploded, and yellow sand particles scattered across the sky. As soon as the two figures collided, they separated and landed.
"Ergh, pfft..."
After a moment of silence, Huang Tao’s face suddenly turned pale, and blood froth spilled from the corner of his mouth.
On the other side, Su Yichen was also breathing rapidly, sweat appearing on his forehead, but ultimately, he wasn’t injured. He narrowly won the exchange and chuckled, "Senior Huang, I won’t stand on ceremony then."
With a muffled grunt, Huang Tao lowered his head, his face ashen.
Of course, he could continue to fight, but that would mean fighting to the death. There was still much of the palace unexplored, who knew what treasures might be found; depleting himself for a mid-grade Spiritual Weapon was unwise.
With his spear in hand, Su Yichen swung it twice, not forgetting to nod in thanks to Shi Xiaole, and took the initiative to ask, "Brother Shi, when shall we continue onward?"
A person’s status is determined by their strength. Clearly, in Su Yichen’s heart, Shi Xiaole had replaced Huang Tao as the pivotal member of their team.
Glancing at the deep corridor behind the stone table, Shi Xiaole said, "Let’s all recuperate for two 2-hour periods first."
"Good."
"That suits me just fine."
The others had no objections, with even Huang Tao saying nothing as they each found a place to sit cross-legged and rest.
After an hour and a half, Shi Xiaole had returned to his peak condition. He spent the remaining time observing his surroundings, especially the corridor behind the stone table.
A vague intuition told him that great danger lay within, but with great danger often came great fortune—to leave without trying was not in Shi Xiaole’s nature.
Little did anyone know, Shi Xiaole had not even touched the Eighth Tier spring source; his victory over Young Master Evil was thanks to the power of the Heart Sword.
By his estimates, to reach the first spring source through conventional cultivation would take at least several years, time he could not afford to wait. Therefore, seizing opportunities was crucial.
After the sands in the hourglass had fallen twice, the older man who was skilled with Array Systems and had an axe tied to his waist stood up and instinctively looked towards Shi Xiaole.
Shi Xiaole nodded and stood up, saying, "If everyone is ready, then let’s move out."
The group walked past the stone table and entered the dark, mysterious corridor.
The air inside the corridor was somewhat chilly and grew colder the further in they went. After walking cautiously for hundreds of meters, the temperature had already dropped below zero.
At the two-thousand-meter mark, it reached minus fifty degrees.
Even Shi Xiaole thickened his Vigorous Air shield.
By the time they reached the five-thousand-meter mark, the temperature had plummeted to minus ninety degrees. Everyone felt ice-cold as the Vigorous Air shielding them lost its effect, and the omnipresent chill penetrated their bodies, nearly freezing their blood.
Cold is not the same concept as heat.
Ordinary Terrestrial Immortals can resist thousands of degrees of high temperature, but they can’t withstand temperatures below minus one hundred degrees. In that state, the kinetic energy in the space is so weak that even breathing becomes a luxury.
Even the strongest peak Earth Immortals would struggle to survive in an environment of minus one hundred and fifty degrees.
"I... I can’t take it anymore."
A woman Earth Immortal by the name of Dong Yiyi had pale lips, and after stumbling a few steps, she stopped moving.
Besides her, Sun Wei, Xu Fang, and four others were also nearing their limits. Even if they could go on, they did not intend to continue.
"You all should retreat first," Shi Xiaole said, walking at the front without looking back.
It wasn’t just the others; he too was close to beating a retreat. In such conditions, he could only muster less than half of his peak strength, which would be insufficient to handle any real danger.
And so, only Shi Xiaole, Huang Tao, Su Yichen, and Bai Ruiting continued forward. When they turned a corner and the temperature dropped to minus one hundred and ten degrees, they suddenly saw the end of the corridor, which spanned only a few dozen meters.
It seemed like another space, with grass, wood, and flower beds on the ground, suggesting a congenial environment. At the very back, there were several stone doors, behind which seemed to be something of value.
They just needed to endure a few dozen more meters!
Huang Tao, gritting his teeth, nearly twisted his face in agony as he moved forward.
But Shi Xiaole forcefully retreated, almost exerting all his power in that moment, which only equaled the speed of a lower-tier Earth Immortal, as he transmitted his voice, "Hurry up and leave!"
He dared not speak openly for fear that his throat would be damaged by the cold.
Su Yichen and Bai Ruiting were immersed in joy. Hearing the warning, they felt a jolt in their hearts and looked closely ahead, spotting a pointy tip at the front end of the corridor.
That tip belonged to something hidden in a blind spot, and because it was so small, they had disregarded it. But now, it suddenly flipped over, revealing that it was a coffin lid.
Roar!
An intense heat that could melt metal and stone washed over them, which was a relief to Shi Xiaole and the others, but their feelings were anything but relieved.
What kind of creature was this?
Its entire body was blood-red, resembling both human and ghost. Shi Xiaole recognized it at a glance—it was the Fire Stiff he had encountered in the Yundai region of Tian State.
However, this Fire Stiff was indescribably terrifying. Every pore on its body spewed heat, and as it charged forward, the heat intersected with the cold, creating a white mist like a lingering storm that the Fire Stiff left trailing behind.
